The present invention relates to a semiconductor arrangement of the type including at least one semiconductor device and a cooling element to dissipate the heat produced in the device.
In conventional semiconductor arrangements, a metallic part of the housing, in which the semiconductor device, in the form of a wafer, is enclosed and which simultaneously serves as a current conductor, is permanently attached, in a planar relationship, to a cooling element, while a further current conductor for the semiconductor device passes through the housing in an insulated manner and is connected to external current connection elements. Frequently unilateral or unidirectional, cooling of such arrangements, on the side provided with the cooling element, results in insufficient dissipation of the heat produced during use while the further current conductor often not only does not dissipate heat but also produces additional heat as a result of having insufficiently small dimensions. Such unilateral cooling with the aid of a cooling element consequently limits the use of such arrangements and reduces their operating efficiency.
It is known to overcome these difficulties by designing semiconductor rectifier devices particularly those required to handle high currents, with a disc-shaped housing and to fasten two mutually insulated cooling elements therebetween. Such a structure permits optimum dissipation of the heat to both sides of the rectifier device. However, such bilateral cooling by two separate cooling elements entails considerable fabrication costs for the cooling devices and requires the provision of additional space and additional structural measures to electrically insulate these cooling elements from one another.
In other known semiconductor arrangements with high current handling capabilities, two semiconductor rectifier elements having a disc-shaped housing bottom and a cap-shaped upper housing portion are spatially and electrically connected in parallel opposition between two disc-shaped cooling elements. Each rectifier element is thus cooled at its lower portion of the housing by its associated cooling element and, at its further current conductor which passes through the upper portion of the housing, by the cooling element of the other rectifier element to which it is connected. Thus, it is cooled on both sides by two cooling elements.
In another known embodiment of a parallel opposition connection, each one of the two rectifier elements is fastened to one of two cooling elements lying in one plane and its further conductor is firmly connected, via contact bars, with the respective other cooling element. In this case again, each rectifier element is cooled on both sides by two cooling elements.